John Fallon reports from Manchester
IRFU PERFORMANCE DIRECTOR David Nucifora said that the progress made by the Irish side in reaching the World Rugby U20 Championship final for the first time is a huge boost.
Nucifora, who flew from South Africa to attend Monday night’s 37-7 semi-final win over Argentina, said the success was down to the work of the coaching team headed by Nigel Carolan and the players.
“It’s fantastic, it’s fantastic for these boys. They put in a lot of work and they deserved that result they got and I am sure they are going to be looking forward to playing a World Cup final,” he said.
“We have seen ongoing improvements from the start of the Six Nations to where they are now both individually and collectively.
“Obviously the job that Nigel and the rest of the coaching staff has done to bring them together as a collective has been fantastic and they deserve a lot of credit as well. It’s been a really good effort. It’s great for Irish rugby to be represented at this level.”
He also attended the opening night win over Wales before travelling on to South Africa for the Tests against the Springboks.
And he noted how the senior players were paying close attention to the performances of the U20′s in Manchester.
“They have seen all of the games. There’s a good spirit within Irish Rugby and it really gets people excited back home for these guys,” he added.
“The more of these young fellas that we can get ready for this level, the sooner the better.
Nucifora said that playing in these sort of tournaments was a great stepping stone to senior rugby and he’s pleased with the rate of improvement in players individually and as a team as they prepare for Saturday’s final against England at the AJ Bell Stadium.
“Individually they have matured as players even in this short of period of time, that is what you see at this level. That is what you look for and that is what you hope for.
“You are learning from playing at a higher level of the game and you see some boys who have improved tremendously since the start of the Six Nations.
“They get it, they understand what is involved at competing at this high level of the game. That is why benchmarking ourselves at this age is really important, and players benefit enormously from it.”
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Now if we could just get some loan movement between provinces of younger players in backlogged positions David that would be sound.
I think that already exists as much as it’s going to without further impinging on the autonomy of the provinces.
Or maybe you leave the players decide what they want to do with their career.
I always think that the NFL draft system is an interesting option.
It doesn’t take into consideration what the player wants but it does give the player a better chance at playing senior rugby as the team who picks him should be doing so in order to fill a gap in their squad. This is probably the best outcome for the players rugby career.
The example i’ll use is Dillane who was only offered a sub-academy place in Munster vs a full academy place in Connacht. They valued him more due to (i’m assuming) less depth in the second row than Munster have. Now, the player obviously agreed to this contract but if there was a scenario where he was drafted without his consent to Connacht but went on to have the breakout season that he had, then the player would surely be happy with the outcome? Would he be as happy if his achievements were limited to regularly playing for the Provincial senior team? I think so…
If there was a draft system, maybe Nucifora could take a more hands on role with allocating Academy players or use his veto to stop a Provence choosing the #1 pick for a standout player that they have enough depth for. Eg if Leinster were stacked with quality second rows but they still wanted Ryan, or if there was a marquee centre that Ulster wanted (but have loads of them already)
That is already happening and the young players are signing with their hometown provinces because of visions of “sweetie mice in their Heads”
Ollie. With Heaslip, Conan and whoever else. Where is Deegan going to get game-time. Surely Leinster need a backline player more?
Fair play to Nucifora for not sissying off the u20s because of the long hauls up and down to SA. I can only attribute this to the start of joined up thinking.
What time is the final on at on Saturday?
7 o clock.
Ultimate rugby app has kick off at 8pm.
19:00 according to IRFU & World Rugby websites. Would imagine that’s a mistake on Ultimate Rugby’s part.
Ultimate Rugby gives local times . I live in Spain so it says 8pm , if youre on holiday or in Lille it may confuse you …
Is that Richie Kavanagh they have at prop?
Even Richie would not let his mullet get into that state.